Entertaining cartoon classics are the ultimate in an ever-evolving modern art form. To celebrate the release of Disney/Pixar's Soul (now streaming on Disney+), we bring you the definitive ranking of the best animated movies of all time.
From the hand-drawn artwork of Walt Disney to the modern technological wonders of Pixar, Laika, and Illumination, we love animated films because, at their best, they offer limitless storytelling possibilities. For this list, we consider each film's overall quality, cultural impact, age, and re-watchability.
Best Animated Movies of All Time
Minion mania started here, with this heart-warming family computer animated movie that got more apathy and laughter than most pictures of its ilk. Steve Carell's voice is played by Gru, a supervillain who discovers his soft side after adopting three young girls.
Several sequels and prequels have been followed in this now huge franchise. Minions: The Rise of Gru is set to release this summer.
The Kung Fu Panda Trilogy
The three vibrant films in this series are highly recommended - but the second part is the best. A deeper, darker, more artistic and ambitious sequel than its predecessor, Bo (Jack Black) and The Furious Five battles the evil white peacock Lord Shen (Gary Oldman), who is trying to invade China.
Directed by Jennifer Yeoh Nelson, Kung Fu Panda 2 grossed $665 million. It was the highest-grossing film directed by a woman until it was frozen two years later; The highest-grossing female-directed film as of 2017, Wonder Woman. The vocal talents of Bryan Cranston, Kate Hudson and JK. The Simmons Season 3 of 2016 helped bring the series to an end in a big way.
Moana (2016)
Stunning 3D scenes and earworms that stalk their toes are the highlight of Disney Studios' musical comedy adventure movie about a Polynesian girl who sets out to save her island from pestilence with the help of a demigod. The story is very routine, but the audiovisual beauty is conveyed. It was nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Feature, losing to Zootopia at the same studio.
Your Name (2019)
With a rich narrative—and brilliant visuals paired with an unforgettable outcome—this fantasy body-swap rom-com for teenage anime has become a beloved, and the fifth highest-grossing film in Japanese box office history. There is a live American remake in development at Paramount.
Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
Wes Anderson's first animated film and first adaptation is based on Roald Dahl's 1970 book, about the confrontation between farmers and a cunning family of foxes. And in the spirit of Dahl, the great family movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Fantastic Mr. Anderson's Isle of Dogs stop-motion 2017 had amazing artwork—and plenty of racially insensitive stuff.
The Lego Movie (2014)
Product mode combined with multiplex entertainment with art in a witty and surprisingly high-definition darling, combined with Guardians of the Galaxy in the same year, made Chris Pratt one of the biggest movie stars in the world. Everything was less fantastic in the less streamlined, late sequel.
The Jungle Book (1967).
Released 10 months after Walt Disney's death (this was the last movie he produced), The Jungle Book adapted Rudyard Kipling's 1894 book with memorable characters and catchy songs. Jon Favreau's racy hybrid reimagining of 2016 is still the high watermark of the Disney remake, with a slight margin.
The Ghost in the Cortex (1995).
Bombarded in its first run before quickly achieving cult status on home video, the futuristic animation follows a cyborg agent, considering themes of identity and technology. It was remade as a lifeless and infamously bleached Hollywood live action picture in 2017.
Mulan (1998)
Disney navigates the whole world of wuxia in a successful blend of female empowerment, high stakes battles, and bright, sometimes outdated humor. The irresistible 2020 live-action remake was nothing but a missed opportunity, with action that somehow weighed less than animation, and beloved Mushu (Eddie Murphy) shrugging off purported realism — with the addition of an occasional evil lady-turned-bird. a stranger.
Zootopia (2016)
Disney's 55th animated feature offers uncommonly ambitious designs. Set in a city of anthropomorphic mammals, the crime epic/comedy hybrid Zootopia has many on her mind: systemic racism, social unrest, even addiction and the illegal drug trade. It's a daring endeavor, offering an entertaining picture that families can passively enjoy - and a subtext that lingers with mature audiences.
Coraline (2009)
Starring the vocal talents of Dakota Fanning and Teri Hatcher, Coraline Inspired by the fantasy novel of the same name by Neil Gaiman, Laika's dazzling stop-motion animation is used to tell the story of a girl who discovers a parallel world with dark secrets through which she enters her new home.
Frozen (2013) and Frozen 2 (2019)
We will give up the desire to make it go play here. Disney's 2013 film and slightly better sequel are among the highest-grossing films of all time, and it's easy to be intrigued by the disruptive and empowering messages of young girls here.
Coco (2017)
Much has been said about the brilliance with which Pixar deals with the subject of death and grief. Case in point: the Academy Award-winning musical drama "Coco," which is about an aspiring musician who finds himself in the colorful land of the dead.
Persepolis (2007)
Marjan Satrapi's biographical drama - based on her own graphic novel - is a play set against the backdrop of the Iranian revolution. It's horrific, rebellious, and exhilarating at times. He won the Jury Prize at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.
How to Train Your Dragon Trilogy (2010-2019)
The human-animal relationship is explored with heart-warming efficacy in the DreamWorks saga about Vikings, fighting a dragon - and a boy and his beloved pet. The quality control has been really great throughout the series. All of them are first class family entertainment.
Chicken Run (2000)
Aardman's stop-Motion family comedy features the wit, snappy bite, and cracker-jack performance of Mel Gibson. The high-energy threads about trying to escape the coup were a worldwide success for the studio that brought us Wallace and Gromit.
Monsters Inc. (2001)
Thanks to the funny, bitter storytelling, advances in animation—particularly detailing the hair and other materials—and the vocal talents of Billy Crystal and John Goodman, Pixar's fourth ride was a huge win.
It was nominated for the inaugural Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, losing to Shrek. The sequel to Monsters University in 2013, although entertaining and enjoyable enough.
Princess Mononoke (1997).
A bloody, racy, fantasy epic about man's relationship with nature from Studio Ghibli, directed by the legendary Hayao Miyazaki himself, Princess Mononoke is also noteworthy for the care it put into its US release. Hollywood has produced an English-language rebranding written in part by fantasy author Neil Gaiman, and featuring A-list vocal talent such as Claire Dance, Billy Crudup, and Gillian Anderson. The American distributor initially also intended to make
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996).
In some circles, this one gets a delicacy to temper elements of Victor Hugo's 1831 novel. See, if everything on the page came up on screen, an entire generation of kids would still be in therapy, and that was the first Disney cartoon.
As it stands, The Hunchback of Notre Dame is very intense, not to mention tactile, fun, amazingly graphic, and operatic. In a four-star review, Roger Ebert described this "high point" of the Disney Renaissance that began with The Little Mermaid and ended at the turn of the century.
Bold warning: Fearsome, narcissistic, and genocidal Tony Jay judge Claude Frollo was the most horrific and evil Disney villain since Snow White's relentless stepmother. Compare Frollo's fanaticism and mind-hate games with villains like Jafar and Captain Hook. These two look great in comparison, right?
Akira (1988)
A touchstone of action, sci-fi and animation, KatsuhiroOtomo's iconic Akira is a stylized, lightning-fast action thriller set in dystopian and post-apocalyptic Tokyo. Without Akira, the Matrix would be nothing. Simply.
27 - Alice in Wonderland (1951).
Disney's thirteenth animated feature is the staple big screen of Lewis Carroll's classic. Cinderella's RKO follow-up received a lukewarm reception on its first run, eventually becoming a cult classic (thanks to a 1970s psychedelic reissue) and critically re-evaluated. It was remade as a bloated and hugely profitable blockbuster in 2010.
Soul (2020)
Simply put, Pixar has done it again. A contemplation of life, death, metaphysical and jazz, Soul is Pixar's best every step of the way. Soul could potentially win an Oscar for Best Animated Feature, and quite possibly the Best Picture nod — and the innovative music of Trent Resnor, Atticus Ross, and John Baptiste is a lock for Best Original Score.
Tomb of the Fireflies 1988.
The Isao Takahata Grave of the Fireflies story, adapted from a Japanese short story written by Akiyuki Nosaka, is a heavy war drama about two young brothers struggling for survival during the final months of World War II. Most likely due to its relentless tragic content, the film was initially a box office failure in Japan and the United States, but over time it became known internationally as a blockbuster. The dreamlike graphics and the graphics correspond to the unwavering humanism of the narrative.